Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Wish You Were Here

Today I received that rare thing - a picture postcard. From my friend Gary, visiting Krakow of all places. I used to regularly send 50 to friends & family on my hols, but stopped a long time ago. Now it's a quick email or blogpost... For semi-traditionalists, the digital route can still be in postcard style with handwritten font and fake stamp, but the photo will be one you took that day and will be dispatched simultaneously to those 50 friends and received in the blink of a eye. There are postcard clubs & societies the world over - around 100 in Britain alone, including the Canal Card Collectors Circle and the East European Postcard Collectors Network (which I'm sure has quite a few from Krakow). There are also dealers, fairs, auctioneers, a Postcard Traders Association... And you can still see racks of the things in newsagents and tourist shops, so I guess there's still demand. I think I have a shoebox (always a shoebox, they were made for them), somewhere in that Wembley warehouse, full of the things.